Rack for jars and other items

ABSTRACT

A rack for holding containers that can be mounted on a cabinet or appliance door, and that includes multiple holders. The rack is preferably molded, and includes multiple sets of gripping arms extending from a notched base. The notched base can be separated into individual racks, each with a single set of arms if desired.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application is a continuation in part of U.S. provisionalpatent application serial No. 60/443,708, filed on Jan. 29, 2003. Thepriority of the prior application is expressly claimed and itsdisclosure is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] This invention relates to racks for holding jars and bottles onvertical surfaces such as cabinet doors. In many instances, cabinetsinstalled in homes, travel trailers and recreational vehicles do notinclude a rack for conveniently holding and displaying jars andcontainers such as those used for spices and the like. In otherinstances, the total amount of cabinet space in cabinets is limited, andmore space would be a benefit. At the same time, it would be nice toprovide storage of jars and bottles within the cabinet to maintain theneat and orderly appearance of the kitchen area.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0003] This invention meets these needs by providing a rack, which forconvenience will be referred to as a spice rack, that can be mounted onthe inside of a cabinet door, or on the inside of any other surface, andwhich firmly grips and holds a number of jars. In a preferred embodimentthe invention includes rack for holding containers including a basehaving a front side and a back side and at least one pair of opposedresilient arms extending from the base front side. The arms have a firstposition for resiliently engaging a container. The resilient arms arespreadable to receive and frictionally hold the container, which can beinserted and removed from the clip with a modest amount of effort.

[0004] A rack according to one embodiment includes an adhesive on theback surface of the base for attaching the rack to a surface such as theinside of a cabinet door. In other embodiments the base includes atleast one hole formed in the base for receiving a fastener such as anail, a screw, a bolt, a tack and a rivet.

[0005] In a preferred embodiment, the base includes a plurality of basesections defined by notches in the base, and the at least one pair ofresilient arms resilient arms extending from each base section. Thisconfiguration provides the user with a flexible rack that can betailored to each application. The preferred method of manufacture of theinvention is by molding a polymeric material into a plurality ofconnected units that can be easily packaged and sold, to be separatedand mounted as needed by the user. These and other aspects of thepreferred embodiments of the invention will be described in greaterdetail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006]FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a preferred embodiment of theinvention showing an array of racks according to the invention.

[0007]FIG. 2 is a top plan view of a single row of racks, and showing inphantom a container held in a single rack.

[0008]FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the single row of racks shownin FIG. 2.

[0009]FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view along line A-A in FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] Referring to the figures, FIG. 1 shows a first preferredembodiment of a rack according to the invention, and includes and arrayof racks 10 of multiple rows and columns of racks manufactured in asingle mold. This provides several advantages. First, a single mold canbe used to manufacture a maximum number of racks, reducing manufacturingcosts. Second, the multiple rack arrays directly from the mold can bepackaged and sold without any further processing. The invention ispreferably molded from a resilient plastic material, although theinvention is not intended to be limited to any particular material ofconstruction.

[0011] It is anticipated that a user would use multiple racks inhorizontal rows, which are formed by separating individual rows a shownin FIGS. 2 and 3 from array 10. Each rack 12 in array 10 includes a base14 and a pair of opposed resilient arms 16 and 18. Each rack is sized tohold a small jar 19, such as a spice jar, as shown in phantom in FIGS.2-4. As best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, adjacent racks are separated by abevel 20 that extends most of the distance through base 14, and providesa ready and convenient separation point between adjacent racks bybending the array along the bevel line until the base material fatiguesand breaks along the base of bevel 20. An adhesive layer 22 is attachedto each base 14, and is used to attach the rack to a surface such as acabinet door 26 as shown in FIG. 4.

[0012] These and other features of the invention will be apparent tothose skilled in the art, who will also appreciate that numerousmodifications and changes in detail are possible without departing fromthe scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A rack for holding containers comprising: a basehaving a front side and a back side; and, at least one pair of opposedresilient arms extending from the base front side, the arms having afirst position for resiliently engaging a container.
 2. A rack accordingto claim 1 further comprising an adhesive on the back side of the base.3. A rack according to claim 1 further comprising at least one holeformed in the base for receiving a fastener selected from the groupconsisting of a nail, a screw, a bolt, a tack and a rivet.
 4. A rackaccording to claim 1 further comprising the resilient arms having spacedapart distal ends, and the resilient arms having a second position forreceiving a container between the spaced apart distal ends.
 5. A rackaccording to claim 1 wherein the at least one base comprises a pluralityof base sections defined by notches in the base, and the at least onepair of resilient arms includes a pair of resilient arms extending fromeach base section.
 6. A rack according to claim 5 wherein the basesections are separable.
 7. A rack according to claim 1 wherein the rackis formed of a polymeric material.
 8. A rack according to claim 1wherein the rack is formed of a metal.
 9. A rack according to claim 1wherein the rack is a molded material.
 10. A rack according to claim 1wherein the pair of resilient arms are curved.
 11. A rack according toclaim 1 wherein the base further comprises a magnet.
 12. An array ofracks comprising: a plurality of individual racks arranged in aplurality of rows and columns, each rack including a base having a frontside and a back side, and at least one pair of opposed resilient armsextending from the base front side, the arms having a first position forresiliently engaging a container, and, a beveled portion adjacent eachrow of racks and operable to separate each respective row and columnfrom at least one adjacent row of racks.